Your commute could get even worse

Transportation chief Anthony Foxx warns that the federal government is going to delay payments for state projects fixing highways and bridges next month.

Gridlock on Capitol Hill may yield more gridlock for American commuters who have to navigate congested, pothole-filled roads and highways, rundown rails or bad bridges.

The nation's top transportation chief warned governors in all 50 states this week that the federal government will start delaying payments for projects that are currently underway to fix the nation's roads and bridges.

The federal Highway Trust Fund, which finances transportation projects, is about to run out of money.

If Congress doesn't act by Aug. 1, the Department of Transportation will trim and postponepayments to states. That could lead to interruptions in highway construction late this summer, according to the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.

"People will see it in traffic and they'll see it in the condition of our roads," said Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx at a breakfast with media on Tuesday. "I think they'll see it in our lack of authority to fix our bridges and to put new capacity in place that this country needs."

The highway fund gets its money mostly from the federal gas tax, but it has been spending more than it takes in for the past decade. So Congress has periodically transferred money from general U.S. tax revenue into the fund -- a total of $54 billion so far.

Starting Aug. 1, the federal agency will have less than $4 billion in its trust fund and will stop making "same-day" reimbursements to states that are improving highways and bridges, the agency warned.

States will instead get money in two installments in August -- some on Aug. 11, and then again two weeks later when gas tax revenue comes in, according to the letters.

At the end of August or early September, the fund will reach zero. And if there's no bill by Sept. 30, even if the highway fund has gas tax money, it will have no power to spend it, Foxx said.